roosevelt

There are plenty of things that aren't in the rule book that you are told that you can't do BTW. For example, I doubt that it states in the rule book that you can't scream at the top of your lungs during another corps performance if you are on staff for someone else, but I imagine it would not be allowed by contest coordinatorsif you did so. Anyways, there was an e-mail that went out at one point from I believe Sue at DCI saying that we couldn't use walkie-talkies or cell phones to mix from the stands and that we needed to mix in person from the track. This was BEFORE the ipad came out, so I imagine things will be looked at differently now. I for one think that remote mixing is an excellent idea. I doubt that there are any corps out there that would not want to mix from up top, but the issues that happened this past summer with the Bluecoats were as follows: 1. Corps were told that they coudn't do this and some corps did anyway (I thought that it was just bluecoats, but I guess Teal sound did as well). That is a problem. If a corps is told that they can't do something than it needs to be enforced for every corps. 2. There needs to be a specific zone set aside at every show for people to be able to do this. At finals bluecoats were doing this in the yamaha booth which was right next to the judges booth this year. This means they got to tweak and adjust the levels more accurately than people who were not yamaha corps. that is an unfair advantage. I am all for remote mixing. It is the only way that electronics will really work. EVERY stadium is different in it's acoustical properties. The size of the track (if there is one), the size of the wall (if there is one), the kind of back stands, the shape of the stadium or dome, and a number of other factors change how things sound up top. There are many times when things sound fine on the track, but don't sound good up top and vice-versa. For this to be fair there needs to be a place set aside for this at every show (or at least every major show). It will improves every corps performance, eliminate a lot of headaches and guess work by the corp staff AND it will be better for the audience. My guess is that there will be discussion about it and it will be made legal and/or clarified further for this next season, BUT corps were told that you couldn't mix from anywhere but the board.

Just what I was told to relay to instructors and what I witnessed on Semifinals night with one of the top 6 corps getting busted on it in the yamaha booth...

If you were upstairs on the phone then you were breaking the rules. I was on tour with a corps this last summer as well and it was made explicitly clear that we could not do this. It was actually made clear for the first time that we couldn't do this starting in either 2008 or 2009 (I can't remember which year).

Yes there is a rule and no they do not provide a place to locate sound engineers at every major show and championships. I was part of numerous conversations with show promoters about this very thing.

Because the rule is as of right now that you cannot remote mix. The reasoning I think was that not every stadium has a place where you can go and do this without disturbing the audience or judges by talking on a cell phone or walkie-talkie. However, with an ipad you should be able to do this now without worrying about being a disturbance. The only issue I see is corps having access to a place in or near the box where they can do the remote mixing. This last summer one staff was doing this from the yamaha booth right next to the judges, which could be considered an unfair advantage to anyone that does not play yamaha.

If the ipad is 3G it would work right?

Yes they do. You can remote mix from an ipad to some of the digital boards that they have out there now. It is illegal though (but one drum corps did it anyway this last year and got busted doing it finals week). I do think they will probably make it legal for everyone to do it though next season.

Amil Muzz is Jason Buckingham. It is what he calls his crazy alter ego.

Let's wait to see what is actually announced before we trash them based on one poster's speculation.

They aren't... it was a joke. I doubt that The Troopers are going retro either. Their new design team is going to go any direction but retro.

He is referring to crossmen

When it all comes down to it, I guess this is the statement that I disagree with. To me, their paths to phantom are rather similar in regards to their experience (minus the UNT thing - which is huge) and relative success along the way. As far as Gwaltney being an unknown, I agree and I don't. I mean I have known about him for years even though I am (or was) a tuba player and I have never been associated with any group he has worked with. I knew him because people said he was great. However, compared to Paul Rennick he IS an unknown. Anybody with the exception of Jim Cassella, Raplh Hardiman, Colin McNutt, Tom Hannum, and Mike Jackson would be considered an unknown when you compare them to Paul Rennick. Your final statement is true. I do imagine that most vets in the percussion section at PR will follow him to SCV which I think will place a big question mark i some horn and guard players minds about what their future might hold. In the end, I think PR will be fine in the percussion caption. What worries me is their visual caption. It almost always has.

Agreed and agreed. I do think that it will take a little time for crossmen's changes to get them back into finals. This is a talented and experienced enough staff to be able to do it though. The Troopers got four places better each year after their return until this last year, but it wasn't until the third year in that rebuilding project that they got into finals. Fortunately for the crossmen they don't have as far to go, but it is going to be essentially a whole new staff and a rebuilding project...and anytime you have one or both of those things it takes time for them to work their magic.

Really? What years was crown in the top 3 in percussion? Reliably in the top 5? Are you sure about that> What years were they in the top 5 in drums when Rennick was there? Also, Phantom was nowhere near the top 6? Really? The only time that I remember them being far from the top six was in 2009 and they were only 3 spots out and that was a year that Rennick was there! WIth that being said, Rennick has done incredible things at Phantom and his indoor lines were nasty good at UNT (and still are), but this other guy has had his fair share of success too in the indoor arena. Will it likely be a bit of a step back? I bet it will. Right now, Rennick is arguably the best percussion guy out there, BUT I still think that they (phantom) will still be quite good in the percussion department even though Rennick is gone and most of the people in the line will likely follow him to SCV. As far as SCV goes, I agree about loss in the approach to playing. I think SCV made a great hire with Rennick, but I will miss seeing Vanguard drum the way that they did. I am glad that we will see that old skool approach at Academy though.

I don't think this is flame-bait one bit. Unfortunately, Pioneer is not the most desired place to work right now for instructors across the country. Roman has the reputation of running people off and being really stubborn, not to mention the fact that pioneer is such a rebuilding project.

Yeah, but he was also fired after that season too. He took over at the colts in 2006 when they were coming off a year where they finished 13th and finished 13th in 2006 too. It was in the 2007 where they made it into finals. So, this is a little bigger climb. Also, he was at Troopers before that where they finished out of semis every year he was there. I don't think he ever got them in the top 20 in horns and he was let go from there too.

True. Either way, I think they will drum very well.

LOL! Ok. Well, if you were in those meetings and the intent was not to highlight the percussion section then there just MIGHT have been some design flaws in the show.... Or maybe you did a great job designing to your strengths and minimizing your weaknesses (i.e reinforcing what I said in the first place about the percussion section).

Yes. I thought that was pretty obvious as did many others. It sure wasn't written around any other caption.

Well, that one year at SW the drum line was fantastic. The rest of the corps was not very strong and the percussion section was BY FAR the best thing going with the corps that year.. might explain why the whole show was written around them... As far as Spirit goes, the percussion section was also the strongest section that they had there in his years too. While I know that those were not the best years for spirit as a drum corps in the years that he was there, but he certainly held his end of the bargain up. I have never met this guy nor have I seen him work, but I do know that the last four years he has had the strongest performing section in the drum corps he has taught.

I disagree. He has done good work with a number of different groups (DCI and WGI). Paul Rennick wasn't winning drums before he got to Phantom and if my memory serves wasn't anywhere close to winning drums either. Also, who else (that's on the market) would have been better?

Who thought that Madison would only move up one spot? I think most people here just universally understood they would be in finals. Also, the Madison staff and what Crossmen have put together are not quite the same. I think Crossmen have put together a good team and all, but they don't really compare to the staff that madison put together. I do think the Crossmen will be better, but what are they doing to remedy their administrative issues that they encountered last season. That itself may take some time to figure out. Lastly (and most importantly), what are they doing to recruit better talent? Nearly the whole staff is from out of state and I don't think texas band kids are going to be banging crossmen's doors down to march under a bunch of guys who might be well known in drum corps, but not really well known in the texas band circuit (like mark chambers was). With that being said, I do think they will be better, but I wouldn't bank on some meteoric rise in placements in 2011.

I think some of you are missing the point of what I was saying in the beginning. It is not a measuring contest. I am trying to get someone to back up a statement.

What is it then?

Testosterone belongs in drum corps.... that's kind of my point to begin with